WASHINGTON — Karl Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political strategist, plans to leave the White House at the end of August, joining a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration.
Read the rest here.
Rove Gone!
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Savonarola
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Out of curiosity: Is resigning from office a ruse to speed up possible impending prosecution so that Bush can pardon him while still in office? It would take longer for a formal Congressional investigation and them imploring him to resign or be fired, which would likely come before criminal charges... Maybe we should wait until Dumbya is out of office before convicting his cronies -- we know what happened with Libby, and we know what would happen if Gonzo were hit with a perjury conviction.
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Doug
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DOUGSavonarola wrote:Out of curiosity: Is resigning from office a ruse to speed up possible impending prosecution so that Bush can pardon him while still in office?
I think at least part of what is going on is that the federal prosecutors investigation is closing in on Rove. I would not be surprised if some e-mails are mentioned at some point that have Rove's name in them.
Also, the September report on how the "surge" is going will hasten Bush's flush down the drain, and Rove may want to just get out while the walls are still up and the roof has not caved in.
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Barbara Fitzpatrick
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Doug
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DOUGBarbara Fitzpatrick wrote:Before I consider this any kind of a good thing, I'd like to know if he's been hired to run a 2008 presidential campaign. He may just be moving over to groom the next selected president.
He says he is not planning on helping any GOP candidate for 2008. He says he is just going to go to TX and write a book.
Of course, since when do we believe anything this liar says?
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LaWood
"Before I consider this any kind of a good thing, I'd like to know if he's been hired to run a 2008 presidential campaign."
Barbara
He will likely be doing it remotely. Prior to GW, Rove's modus operandi was always from behind the scenes. Fred Thompson has hired Rove's butt boy and dirt digger, Ark's own Timothy Griffin as a "researcher". (See Ark Times blog)
It's helpful to note how many in the DOJ have stepped down over the USA scandal. There's some serious wrong doings going on there for that to happen. Rove has always feared scandals because he understands the power of a scandal to diminish a person and possibly imprison him/her. He maintained the R's lost the '06 elections not because of the Iraq war but because of the numerous Repub scandals. He has created scandals against oppositional candidates on several occasions. John McCain and the illegitimate black child in So Carolina primary come to mind. The Swiftboating scandal of John Kerry had Rove's backroom signature all over it. He always attacks an opponents greatest strength. McCain's was his family and war record. He smeared both of them.
It's still gotcha politics whether we like it or not. Emails to me from insiders have indicated is that D's plan for the trials and hearings to begin just as next years elections grow strong for maximum embarrassment value and hence, re election value for D's.
Demos had no control over the fate of Libby and his commutation. However they will exercise control over the timing of hearings and subsequent trials of Rove and company. Rove and company would likely be well aware of all this, and much more we do not know about.
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Barbara
He will likely be doing it remotely. Prior to GW, Rove's modus operandi was always from behind the scenes. Fred Thompson has hired Rove's butt boy and dirt digger, Ark's own Timothy Griffin as a "researcher". (See Ark Times blog)
It's helpful to note how many in the DOJ have stepped down over the USA scandal. There's some serious wrong doings going on there for that to happen. Rove has always feared scandals because he understands the power of a scandal to diminish a person and possibly imprison him/her. He maintained the R's lost the '06 elections not because of the Iraq war but because of the numerous Repub scandals. He has created scandals against oppositional candidates on several occasions. John McCain and the illegitimate black child in So Carolina primary come to mind. The Swiftboating scandal of John Kerry had Rove's backroom signature all over it. He always attacks an opponents greatest strength. McCain's was his family and war record. He smeared both of them.
It's still gotcha politics whether we like it or not. Emails to me from insiders have indicated is that D's plan for the trials and hearings to begin just as next years elections grow strong for maximum embarrassment value and hence, re election value for D's.
Demos had no control over the fate of Libby and his commutation. However they will exercise control over the timing of hearings and subsequent trials of Rove and company. Rove and company would likely be well aware of all this, and much more we do not know about.
.
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Dardedar
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The Jaundiced Rove of Texas
By Michael Winship
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
Tuesday 14 August 2007
Mother of Mercy! Is this the end of Karl Rove?
Not bloody likely. If you think otherwise, you've got greater faith in the power of wolf's bane, garlic and wooden stakes than I have.
But why is he leaving that Cloud Cuckooland of Make-Believe known as the White House on such seemingly short notice? Part of me conjures Claude Rains asking Bogart why he exiled himself to Casablanca: "I like to think you killed a man. It's the romantic in me."
No such luck, but everyone's pretty much in agreement that it's not for the official reason: that he wants to mosey on back to Texas to spend more time with his wife and son, who's already in college. There's a well-informed body of opinion that he's getting out of Dodge just a few hoof beats ahead of the sheriff's posse.
Having successfully eluded indictment in the Scooter Libby/Valerie Plame case, perhaps he can hear the whisper of the ax as the investigation of the US attorneys' firings and subsequent cover-ups gets closer to home. He's still under subpoena - and still refusing, citing executive privilege - to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If indicted, his resignation puts a little air between him and his president, but not a lot.
... Rove may just have played out his string and had nowhere to go but toward the exit sign. His dreams for a permanent Republican majority, a fundamental realignment of the domestic body politic and a conservative Camelot with himself as Machiavellian Merlin are a bucket of ashes. And to a large extent, he has no one to blame but himself.
... With a deadly mixture of arrogance and ignorance of legislative protocol and tradition, Rove alienated both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. Post 9/11 goodwill was squandered in divisiveness, so when the time came to seek Congressional cooperation on Social Security and immigration reform, Rove's steamroller stalled big time. As far as Congress was concerned, in the words of former House GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey, "You can't call her ugly all year and expect her to go to the prom with you."
...
Combine this with Iraq, Katrina and a White House policy process former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill described as "kids rolling around on the lawn" and you get the disaster we have before us today."
The rest
By Michael Winship
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
Tuesday 14 August 2007
Mother of Mercy! Is this the end of Karl Rove?
Not bloody likely. If you think otherwise, you've got greater faith in the power of wolf's bane, garlic and wooden stakes than I have.
But why is he leaving that Cloud Cuckooland of Make-Believe known as the White House on such seemingly short notice? Part of me conjures Claude Rains asking Bogart why he exiled himself to Casablanca: "I like to think you killed a man. It's the romantic in me."
No such luck, but everyone's pretty much in agreement that it's not for the official reason: that he wants to mosey on back to Texas to spend more time with his wife and son, who's already in college. There's a well-informed body of opinion that he's getting out of Dodge just a few hoof beats ahead of the sheriff's posse.
Having successfully eluded indictment in the Scooter Libby/Valerie Plame case, perhaps he can hear the whisper of the ax as the investigation of the US attorneys' firings and subsequent cover-ups gets closer to home. He's still under subpoena - and still refusing, citing executive privilege - to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If indicted, his resignation puts a little air between him and his president, but not a lot.
... Rove may just have played out his string and had nowhere to go but toward the exit sign. His dreams for a permanent Republican majority, a fundamental realignment of the domestic body politic and a conservative Camelot with himself as Machiavellian Merlin are a bucket of ashes. And to a large extent, he has no one to blame but himself.
... With a deadly mixture of arrogance and ignorance of legislative protocol and tradition, Rove alienated both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. Post 9/11 goodwill was squandered in divisiveness, so when the time came to seek Congressional cooperation on Social Security and immigration reform, Rove's steamroller stalled big time. As far as Congress was concerned, in the words of former House GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey, "You can't call her ugly all year and expect her to go to the prom with you."
...
Combine this with Iraq, Katrina and a White House policy process former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill described as "kids rolling around on the lawn" and you get the disaster we have before us today."
The rest
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Barbara Fitzpatrick
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The problem is, that dream of permanent Republican control isn't necessarily a bucket of ashes. The Dems are not able to get anything progressive over the president's veto (when they can even get it to the Senate floor) and have unfortunately caved on two very significant bills (Iraqi occupation funding and disemboweling FISA). Progressives - who didn't even wait for the new congress to be sworn in before complaining that they weren't doing anything - are making nasty "I'm gonna vote green" threats that if carried through will do nothing but allow the Rs to steal another election. Terrorism is just another nasty crime and should be so treated. The real thing to fear is the R's ability to divide and conquer - Progressive/Liberal refusal to aid the kid with his finger stopping up the hole in the dyke because he hasn't rebuilt the levees.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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LaWood
"{Demos}...have unfortunately caved on two very significant bills (Iraqi occupation funding and disemboweling FISA)."
Barbara
Ark's two Demo Senators caved on those issues you mention, and voted FOR Military Commissions Act-Torture, and VOTED FOR the nominations of Gonzales, Alito, and Chief Justice Roberts.
So much for "throwing your vote away on a Green Party candidate." What difference does it make if you throw it away on a DINO or Green?
This time I'm voting for Rebekah Kennedy for U.S. Senator.
Barbara
Ark's two Demo Senators caved on those issues you mention, and voted FOR Military Commissions Act-Torture, and VOTED FOR the nominations of Gonzales, Alito, and Chief Justice Roberts.
So much for "throwing your vote away on a Green Party candidate." What difference does it make if you throw it away on a DINO or Green?
This time I'm voting for Rebekah Kennedy for U.S. Senator.
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LaWood
A ‘Great Society’ Conservative
"For decades, conservatives have inveighed against what they consider to be the hubris of liberals — the belief that regulations, laws and bureaucrats can contend with deep cultural forces. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the New York senator and a chastened veteran of the Great Society, liked to warn about government overreach by citing Rossi’s Law, so named for the sociologist Peter Rossi, who had declared that “the expected value for any measured effect of a social program is zero.”"
Mr. Rove married a liberal’s faith in the potential of government to a conservative’s contempt for its actual functioning. This was the contradiction at the heart of “compassionate conservatism,” and it helps explain the tension between the president’s fine words about, say, helping those hurt by Hurricane Katrina, and his actions.
Conservatives don’t have a lot to celebrate these days. Mr. Rove’s attempt at a Great Republican Society has left his party in tatters and, in this sense at least, his influence will be felt long after George W. Bush has left the White House.
Of course, there is a bright side. If nothing else, Mr. Rove has strengthened the conservative critique of what happens when you try to engineer great societal changes through government policy. Perhaps conservatives can find some solace by telling themselves they were right all along."
Joshua Green, NYT Aug 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/opini ... ref=slogin
Mr. Rove married a liberal’s faith in the potential of government to a conservative’s contempt for its actual functioning. This was the contradiction at the heart of “compassionate conservatism,” and it helps explain the tension between the president’s fine words about, say, helping those hurt by Hurricane Katrina, and his actions.
Conservatives don’t have a lot to celebrate these days. Mr. Rove’s attempt at a Great Republican Society has left his party in tatters and, in this sense at least, his influence will be felt long after George W. Bush has left the White House.
Of course, there is a bright side. If nothing else, Mr. Rove has strengthened the conservative critique of what happens when you try to engineer great societal changes through government policy. Perhaps conservatives can find some solace by telling themselves they were right all along."
Joshua Green, NYT Aug 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/opini ... ref=slogin
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Barbara Fitzpatrick
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Blanche did NOT vote for the Military Commissions Act (torture AND zap habeas corpus). Nor did she vote to confirm Alito. She had a little more misguided faith in Roberts, but learned from her mistake.
As for Mark, he may be (as one of his former professors told me) as dumb as a box of rocks, but he does vote for environmental bills and women's health issues. Sure Rebekah Kennedy would be better, but she's not going to win on the Green ticket - but a Holt might, if you vote for her. I wish she'd declared Dem - run against Mark and either get the Dem slot (where she'd have a chance to win) or at least scare Mark into being more Dem and less DINO.
As for Mark, he may be (as one of his former professors told me) as dumb as a box of rocks, but he does vote for environmental bills and women's health issues. Sure Rebekah Kennedy would be better, but she's not going to win on the Green ticket - but a Holt might, if you vote for her. I wish she'd declared Dem - run against Mark and either get the Dem slot (where she'd have a chance to win) or at least scare Mark into being more Dem and less DINO.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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Dardedar
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DAR
Professional liar Tony Snow to go soon too:
***
HEWITT: Your intention to go the distance, Tony Snow?
SNOW: No, I’m not going to be…I’ve already made it clear I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons. I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.
***
Poor Tony, such a sacrifice. He just can't get by on the $168,000 a year his job pays (with lots of benefits).
link
Professional liar Tony Snow to go soon too:
***
HEWITT: Your intention to go the distance, Tony Snow?
SNOW: No, I’m not going to be…I’ve already made it clear I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons. I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.
***
Poor Tony, such a sacrifice. He just can't get by on the $168,000 a year his job pays (with lots of benefits).
link
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LaWood
Spurning Criticism, Rove Blames Democrats
......
"But in an interview at an IHOP restaurant here, days after he announced his resignation as Mr. Bush’s top political adviser, Mr. Rove defiantly dismissed the rash of fresh critiques that have come his way in the last several days, blaming the Democrats for the divisive tone that has dominated Mr. Bush’s tenure and for which he has frequently taken the blame.
He said he had no regrets over what some even some allies have called his greatest missteps, like his trying and failing to pass a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security system at the start of Mr. Bush’s second term, and the degree to which he seemed to meld partisan politics and official White House policy in his dual duties as a deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush’s top political strategist.
He strenuously argued with the dominant characterization of him as the Oz — or, with Vice President Dick Cheney, the co-Oz — behind the curtain of Mr. Bush’s White House and presidency, declaring, “I’m the facilitator,” who has merely helped Mr. Bush as he has sought to shape his own views.
......
Mr. Rove said he reminded Mr. Martinez that the blame should be focused on a Democrat, namely Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, for what Mr. Rove characterized as failing to shepherd a comprehensive immigration plan the president supported. (Mr. Reid has placed the blame on the White House, saying it failed to forge the political consensus needed to pass the plan.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/us/19 ... ref=slogin
......
"But in an interview at an IHOP restaurant here, days after he announced his resignation as Mr. Bush’s top political adviser, Mr. Rove defiantly dismissed the rash of fresh critiques that have come his way in the last several days, blaming the Democrats for the divisive tone that has dominated Mr. Bush’s tenure and for which he has frequently taken the blame.
He said he had no regrets over what some even some allies have called his greatest missteps, like his trying and failing to pass a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security system at the start of Mr. Bush’s second term, and the degree to which he seemed to meld partisan politics and official White House policy in his dual duties as a deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush’s top political strategist.
He strenuously argued with the dominant characterization of him as the Oz — or, with Vice President Dick Cheney, the co-Oz — behind the curtain of Mr. Bush’s White House and presidency, declaring, “I’m the facilitator,” who has merely helped Mr. Bush as he has sought to shape his own views.
......
Mr. Rove said he reminded Mr. Martinez that the blame should be focused on a Democrat, namely Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, for what Mr. Rove characterized as failing to shepherd a comprehensive immigration plan the president supported. (Mr. Reid has placed the blame on the White House, saying it failed to forge the political consensus needed to pass the plan.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/us/19 ... ref=slogin